Dr. Shreerang Godbole
The law
The Home Ministry, Government of
India has recently declared details offoreign funds that poured into India
for the year 2000-01. The provisions of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation)
Act -FCRA- 1976 regulate the receipt of foreign contribution in the country.
The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Rules, 1976 contain the various forms
prescribed for this purpose. An association having a definite cultural,
economic, educational, religious or social programme, after it obtains
the prior permission of the Central Government or gets itself registered
with the Central Government, can receive foreign contribution. All associations
permitted to accept foreign contribution are required to submit annual
returns (FC-3), duly certified by a Chartered Accountant, giving details
of the receipts and purpose-wise utilization of the foreign contribution.
The return has to be filed for every year (1st April to 31st March) within
a period of four months form the closure of the year, i.e. by 31st July
of each year. It has been seen that only about 60-70% file their FC-3 regularly.
The balance 30-40% seems to be quite consistent in not filing their FC-3
in time. FCRA Department then issues them a notice. If they ignore the
notice, this leads to cancellation of FC registration. In the past, Government
has cancelled FC registration of 203 organizations in July-96 and another
497 in September 1997. Foreign contribution can be categorized into 26
main heads including health care and family welfare, sanitation, welfare
of women and children, housing, education. Environmental programmes, rural
development etc.This also includes strictly religious purposes such as
construction/ extension of places of worship, repairs/ maintenance of places
of worship, education of priests and preachers, religious functions, publication
of religious literature. Money for purely religious activities accounts
for about 10% of foreign funds.
Progressive rise inforeign contribution
Foreign contribution has gone up
from Rs.1,584 crores in 1992-93 to Rs.3,403 crores in 1998-99. That means
an annual growth rate of 13.6% over these seven years. The rate has been
lowered somewhat due to stagnation in 1994-95. If you look at the average
funds received per association, this has also gone up. In 1992-93, the
average was Rs.15.5 lacs. In 1998-99, it had risen to Rs.24.7 lacs. This
is an increase of 8% per year per NGO. In 1999-2000, the inflow of foreign
funds amounted to Rs. 3924.63 crores ( one crore equals ten million).For
the period 2000-01, this inflow has grown by 15% to reach Rs. 4535.23 crores.
What contributes to this rate of
growth?
Firstly, there is inflation. Budgets
have to increase every year just to remain at the same in real purchasing
power. Secondly, the rupee has fallen quite a bit over the last seven years.
In 1992, a dollar would get you 28 rupees. Today, it gets you 45 rupees.
In some ways, this increases the ability of agencies to fund programmes
in India. Thirdly, programme activities have also probably increased over
the years.Whatever the reasons, there is little doubt that India is today
witnessing a flood of foreign funds!
What the government report says
1. 22,924 associations stood registered
under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 1976 as on 31st March
2001.
2. 638 associations were granted
prior permission to receive foreign contribution during 2000-2001.
3. 14,598 associations filed returns
for 2000-2001.
4. The receipt of foreign contribution
during 2000-2001 amounted to Rs 4535.23 crores. This represents a 15.56%
increase over the amount received in the previous year (Rs 3924.63 crores).
5. Among the states and union territories,
Delhi reported the largest amount (Rs 763.05 crores) followed by Tamil
Nadu (Rs 649.45 crores) and Andhra Pradesh (Rs 589.52 crores).
6. The United States of America
(Rs 1492.62 crores) heads the list of donor countries, followed by the
United Kingdom (Rs 677.59 crores), and Germany (Rs 664.51 crores).
7. The leading donor agency was
World Vision International, USA (Rs 80.43 crores), followed by Foster Parents
Plan International, USA (Rs. 76.37 crores), and Watch Tower Bible and Tract
Society, USA (Rs. 68.11 crores).
8. The largest recipient of foreign
contribution was Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, Andhra Pradesh (Rs 88.18
crores), followed by World Vision of India, Tamil Nadu (Rs 85.42 crores)
and Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society India, Maharashtra (Rs. 74.88 crores).
9. Among the purposes, the largest
amount was received for rural development (Rs 547.74 crores) followed by
health care & family welfare (Rs 432.98 crores), and relief for natural
calamities (Rs 339.77 crores).
Limitations of the official report
The hard work that the FCRA Department
puts in while compiling this information despite limited personnel and
infrastructure deserves appreciation. However, it suffers from certain
limitations. Foreign contribution in kind (material) is sometimes not valued
or reported by receiving NGOs. The figures and analysis will be distorted
accordingly. The data includes all money reported as received for educational,
social, religious, cultural, or economic programmes. 'Social-change institutions',
development organizations, religious bodies, universities, and hospitals
may receive this money as also NGOs set up by the Government. The FCRA
dept. actually makes no real distinction between grant making agencies
and NGOs. Above all, the report remains silent on the nature and objectives
of donor or recipient organizations.Further, if a missionary school receives
foreign funds, it would get classified under 'education' rather than 'religion'.Also,
multiple FCRA registrations may exist due to various reasons. These organizations
may be totally independent, part of the same group or branches of the same
organization.Society Registrars do not verify whether organizations with
similar names exist in other states before registering a society. It is
not necessary that each of the branches will receive FC funds independently.Christian
organizations are particularly adept at this.For example, in 1996-97, seven
FC-3 were filed with similar names:
1. World Vision of India, Tamilnadu
2. World Vision of India, Andhra
Pradesh
3. World Vision of India, Maharashtra
4. World Vision of India, Meghalaya
5. World Vision of India, Nagaland
6. World Vision of India, Orissa
7. World Vision of India Delhi Branch,
Delhi
Of these seven, the first one's
receipts are included in top 25 category.
In 1996-97 and 1997-98,two FC-3
were filed with similar names viz.1. Missionaries Of Charity, W.Bengal
and 2. Missionary Of Charity, West Bengal.In 1998-99, two FC-3 were filed
with similar names viz. 3. Missionaries Of Charity, West Bengal and 4.
Missionary of Charity Brothers, West Bengal. Of these four, the first one's
receipts are included in top 25 category.
Top recipient organizations
The majority of the top 25 recipient
organizations are Christian.Only a handful of Hindu organizations such
as Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, Maharishi Ved Vigyan Vishwa Vidyapeetam,
Mata Amritanandamayi Mission figure in the list.Organizations like the
Foster Parents Plan International are atleast not overtly Christian. If
one were to give details of the top 25 Christian donor and recipient organizations,
it would fill up a huge volume.A few details of the top two recipient organizations
are given below.
World Vision India In
World Vision is touted as the largest
privately-funded development and relief organisation in the world.It has
been working in India since 1962.It has been trying to procure more funds
from within the country for its various activities. With a budget that
touched Rs. 70 crores in 1999-2000 and reached Rs. 85.42 crores in 2000-2001
in view of the Gujarat earthquake, the Indian operations of the World Vision
spread over 100 districts in 23 States and across 6,000 communities as
of 2001. World Vision India, which is headquartered in Chennai and is registered
as a society under the Societies Registration Act of Tamil Nadu, operates
about 100 projects in the country by way of Area Development Programmes
(ADPs), Special Initiative Projects (SIPs) and disaster relief. It has
regional offices in New Delhi, Bhubaneshwar, Guwahati, Pune and Hyderabad.
Funding for World Vision comes from a variety of public and private sources
- multilateral donors (eg. USAID, DIFID, CIDA), corporations, foundations,
associations, and individuals. World Vision is a partner with local communities,
non-governmental organizations, international agencies (eg. UNICEF and
WHO), and the GOI (national, state, and local). In February 2001, the Australian
Cricket Board selected World Vision as the agency of choice to provide
support to the Gujarat relief effort by designating a one-day final to
the relief campaign and collecting Rs. 41.25 lakhs. The proceeds of an
auction of a bat autographed by Indian and Australian teams were also be
given for the relief work. Thanks to gullible Hindu cricketers and Hindu
cricket fans, World Vision raked in money to convert Hindus!
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
of India
It is an evangelical organization,
which provides free Bible courses.It is registered in Maharashtra and has
offices in Lonavala (58, Old Khandala Road, Lonavala), Khandala and Mumbai.Received
Rs. 14.6 crores in 97-98. It is linked to the Watch Tower Bible and Tract
Society of Pennsylvania, USA. This is part of Jehovah's Witnesses (JW.
Since 1926, JW have printed 10 crore copies of the Bible in 34 languages.
The Watchtower, the primary Bible study aid for members of the faith, has
an average printing of 25 million, giving it the largest circulation of
any religious magazine in the world. It is published in 147 languages.
Of these editions, 133 are translated and printed for simultaneous release.
JW have unflinching faith in the literal meaning of the Bible. JWrefuse
surgery and blood donations in line with Biblical teaching eg. "eat no
food that has been offered to idols; eat no blood." (Acts 15:29).Thus for
example the Bible talks about the need for corporeal punishment in the
interest of the child. Refraining from beating is tantamount to hating,
says one Proverb. Cane rescues the soul from hell, says another (Proverbs
13:24, 23:13-4). JW believe that the Bible contains the ultimate truth
and do not find anything wrong in punishing children. Teachers thrash children
in the name of driving out Satan from them. This sect had 24160 active
members in India as of 2002 and had baptized 1157 new converts. The scale
of the Watchtower Society may be imagined from the fact that it purchases
200 litres milk daily from Kaveri Farm, Lonavala.
Need to tighten laws
The current FCRA was last amended
in 1985.Proposals to tighten the loopholes in the existing law were mooted
in 1988 and 1995 but petered out. In 2001, the Law Ministry prepared a
revised law to prevent misuse of foreign funds for subversive activities.
It needs the approval of the Cabinet before being tabled in Parliament.
Let's hope that the inflow of foreign funding for subversive activities
is curbed!
